Thousands queue up around the world to get their hands on GTA V

Grand Theft Auto V was launched worldwide at midnight, with thousands of gamers eagerly queuing in the cold to get a copy.

It cost £170m to develop and lets players explore the criminal underworld of San Andreas, a fictional US state based on Southern California.

Devoted fans piled up in their hundreds outside stores such as HMV Oxford Street as staff braced themselves for the imminent stampede.

Taylor Pelling, 20, set his tent up days ago. "No one else turned up until 3am today, but it is the risk you take and it paid off."

"It wasn't as cold as I thought, although I did find out the tent I bought wasn't waterproof."

Gamers queued for hours to get their hands on a copy [ALAMY]

More than 800 people queued for four hours at the Game store in Telford Town Centre, which had to open its doors early to cope with the swelling numbers.

Kyle Field, 18, received a certificate for being the first in the store. "I pre-ordered my copy in October of last year. I am the biggest fan of this game, it is 10/10 and I am buzzing to be here."

Many Brits are expected to take today off to immerse themselves in what many are calling the greatest game of all time.

Happy chappies... The game is expected to reach 10m in first-day sales [DEMOTIX]

In a poll conducted on gaming site IGN.com, 46% of 11,000 gamers said they had booked the day off work while 11% said they would call in sick.

Tom Butler of IGN.com said that the appeal of the game would prove too tempting for fans. "With gamers queuing at midnight to be among the first to play and the developer boasting thousands of hours of game play, there's no surprise that we're likely to see an outbreak of GTA flu this September."

GTA V features numerous missions in a game world twice the size of real-life Manhattan and is expected to smash all gaming records.

A bargain... £45 for thousands of hours of gameplay [HEMEDIA]

“It's a game that ticks every box and is essentially a masterpiece”

Danny Colclough, Enterprise

Having aggregated 98/100 on Metacritic, the game is set to dominate the gaming charts ahead of upcoming releases such as FIFA 14.

Danny Colclough of Enteraction believes that GTA V should already be considered as one of the best games ever made. "When you get a game that's been talked about for the past 5 years then you expect a lot. In fairness to GTA, it delivers. It's a game that ticks every box and is essentially a masterpiece."

Having received seven million preorders already, industry experts expect it to shift 15m units by the weekend.

GTA developer Rockstar predicts that in its first year the game will make £1bn in sales, making it the most successful game of all time.

Working overtime... staff were as happy as the shoppers [ALAMY]

Mike Brookes, manager of Game in Walsall, couldn't believe his eyes when he saw 500 people waiting outside his store. "It's by far the biggest game launch we've ever done."

"The atmosphere has been fantastic.

"I'd say more than 1,000 people came through the shop during the night."

However things turned sour in north London when one shopper was stabbed and robbed of his copy of GTA V just an hour after it was released.

The 23-year-old man was attacked with a brick and stabbed after leaving an Asda store in Colindale and is now in a stable condition in hospital.

The gang took his watch, phone and copy of the game which he had spent over an hour queuing for.

Despite criticism over violence, gamers lined up outside shops all over the country [HEMEDIA]

The GTA series has been criticised in the past for its intense levels of violence, and Alison Sherratt of the Lecturers and Teachers Association believes it can have a dangerous influence on youngsters.

She said: "This scene takes things a step too far and the games makers need to consider what they are producing.

"They (children) don't understand the difference between reality and fiction because it's so awfully graphic and real, and they do copy it."